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Cibophobia - Fear of food itself This fear mostly is due to a fear of one specific food or a group of foods. It is also called Sitophobia, derived from sitos, the greek word for bread, and phobia, which means fear
Ovaphobia - Fear of eggs This fear is usually caused by having a negative experience involving eggs, such as having an egg thrown at you or accidentally breaking an egg. It may also be caused by an allergy.
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Brumotactillophobia- Fear of Food Touching People with this fear become angry or stressed when their food on their plate is touching other pieces of food. In many cases, if their is food touching, then they will stop eating their meal entirely.
Brumotactillophobia, the fear of food touching, is not picky eating
ver since I was a toddler I have trembled at the thought of food touching other food as well as the textures of specific foods. I could never understand how at Thanksgiving people can carelessly throw heaping amounts of food onto a plate and then pour gravy all over it. Or the thought of combining weird foods like bananas and Jello like the cafeteria sells.
Some might say not liking foods touching is simply a pet peeve, but the fear of food touching, Brumotactillophobia, can go as far as being a mild form of obsessivecompulsive disorder (OCD) according to the definition from the National Institutes of Health. According to a number of online sources, many people’s fear of food touching begins as a toddler. These sources also claim there are three main factors of Brumotactillophobia; control, aesthetic appeal and the mixture of tastes and textures. Personally, I find myself struggling with the mixture of tastes and textures when foods touch. My hatred of foods touching one another is so extreme that when something as simple as mashed potatoes mixes with mac ‘n’ cheese I will separate the two foods from each other and eat those, then leave the pieces of food that touched in the middle and refuse to eat them.
And the concept of some foods’ textures makes me cringe, especially foods like applesauce. Even as a child, and to this day, I cannot stand the texture of applesauce. I cannot handle the feeling of the sogginess or the small pieces of apple going against my teeth; it is absolutely one of the worst things I have ever tasted solely because of the texture. I share the same amount of disgust for ketchup and pepperoni.
Even though some may say it is bizarre to care so much about foods touching since they will end up colliding in your stomach one way or another, in the end, I would prefer to not force my taste buds to suffer while I eat a meal. E WORDS & PHOTO | | KIERSTEN RIEDFORD A GRAPHIC | | EMILY SANDY
The views in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of the Acumen staff. Reach Kiersten Riedford at kriedford@hilite.org
GOLD BLUE STAYING TRUE IN BLUE &GOLD
Staying true to yourself in high school environment seems less intense as media portrays it
WORDS | | VALLIEI CHANDRAKUMAR I GRAPHICS | | MICHELLE LU
n many modern TV shows and movies, high school is portrayed as the period for students to find themselves and their values. However, for junior Katelyn Wang, the peer pressure she said she feels is not as intense as what is portrayed in the media.
According to Wang, the abnormal size of CHS has its downsides and benefits, but ultimately, it is not as exclusive and cliquey as modern media makes high schools seem.
“Sometimes, (at CHS) you can feel like just a statistic. Sometimes, you can feel like a number,” Wang said. “Really, if you get down to it, the amount of people helps you learn about people in general. Stereotypically, yeah, there are jocks and there are nerds, but it runs deeper than that.”
But if you pay attention, sophomore Mansi Nayak said there are more apparent stereotypical divides in the environment if one chooses not to ignore them.
“You’ll often see the popular kids stay away from, you know, people who play video games,” Nayak said. Dealing with Peer Pressure Here are some ways to deal with peer pressure
1. Pay attention to how you feel. If something feels wrong, avoid the situation.
2. Talk to the person who is pressuring you and let them know how you feel.
3. Have a secret code with parents or
friends to get you out of a situation.
4. Give an excuse.
Finding a Voice
Nayak said accepting yourself for all your interests and flaws is a gradual journey.
“I feel like, maybe, the people who don’t speak out (have the hardest time being themselves). I’m one of those people,” Nayak said. “I don’t like speaking out unless I have a lot of my friends in that class. So, it just gets really tough.”
Counselor Ann Boldt said tension among students is prevalent at CHS but it is different in the sense that it is often a comparison of academic ability rather than social standing. She said the typical high school stresses about grades and the future can mix with unrealistic social standards students set for themselves.
“Everyone thinks all the students here know what they’re going to do with their lives and what they’re going to major in. That’s not true nor should it be,” Boldt said.
Wang said self-reflecting on what truly matters to her helps her lessen anxiety about cliques and judgment in the academic and social worlds.
“I think what people have to realize is if someone doesn’t like you, that’s their problem. It also goes the other way,” Wang said. “If I don’t like someone, that’s my thing. It’s not their fault. I don’t get to treat them like it’s their fault.”
Boldt said it is important for students to realize each journey is specifically unique to a person’s personal and academic capability.
“(School) doesn’t look the same with any one student and I think the biggest thing is people are comparing themselves,” Boldt said.
Wang also said peer pressure has been so institutionalized that it impacts regular social etiquette. “I think we look at peer pressure and we think it’s someone pressuring someone to have sex or to try alcohol or drugs or to do a crime. I think it’s less about that and more peer pressure in terms of this is how you should act,” Wang said. “You should be nicer to people. You should be less sarcastic. You should be less loud. I have a pretty loud personality. I scream in hallways
Take a look at what peer pressure entails with these five common social pressures Puppet of Peer Pressure
2. Stealing When hanging out with a group, it’s easy to justify that a dangerous activity is not that bad. However, risky behavior results in death in most cases, especially for teenagers.
3. Sexual Activity According to AptParent, 20- 33% of teenagers feel pressured to have sex during high school or earlier.
4. Bullying Often times, people bully others without realizing it. This form of bullying is considered a type of social pressure after it snowballs into a group effort. If the victim doesn’t join in, they are projected as a social outcast.
1. Drugs/Alcohol These are the easiest things for a teen to be pressured to do, as many people associate it with “coolness.” According to DrugFree World, 55% of teens start using substances after being pressured.
and people shun me and look away. I have no volume control and I’m not going to apologize for that.”
Media Gets it Wrong
As for high schools portrayed in the media, Nayak said while cliques and peer pressure are present at CHS, it is not as intense and detached as today’s TV shows and movies make it out to be.
“I don’t think the entertainment industry should exaggerate it as much; they might show us more of it,” Nayak said. “They need to talk more about how normal school life is. I just don’t think that’s being represented.”
Nayak said the distortion of high school in the media gives people false ideas of how they should act. She said the interactions at CHS are simplistically casual and well-intentioned.
“I don’t think there’s anyone who’s the most popular here or the most bullied here,” Nayak said. “It’s all pretty well-balanced.”
Wang said she agreed with Nayak about how each person at CHS is so different that it seems like cliques aren’t as integrated as they are displayed in the media. “One clique doesn’t fit one person,” Wang said.
Wang said when TV shows start showing multifaceted characters in diverse, realistic situations, students will come to realize acceptance is the easiest choice.
“I think there’s not one person that’s been nice 100% of the time his entire life. I think there’s a lot of people who have been mean,” Wang said. “I think a lot of times when
5. Dangerous Behavior This risk typically starts with a dare and adrenaline soon follows. However, after adrenaline wears off, a person may experience intense guilt and concerns about their reputation.
SOURCE || ACCREDITED SCHOOLS ONLINE
you have this main character who is this nice person, this pretty girl with a boyfriend and all these problems but she herself never recognizes she was the villain of the story, it makes this unrealistic stereotype that this girl is always good and this girl always does this right.”
TRUTH OR DARE | 3.12 | 11 Finding your Part
Boldt said while each student makes their own contributions to CHS, it is important to realize the impact you can make on yourself with the available resources.
“Make your journey here at Carmel High School your own,” Boldt said. “Just do things that bring you joy and you have passion about.” Wang said CHS supports progressive, real connections that leaves students for the better.
“While I do feel like people could be nicer sometimes, I think that the idea that all high school football players are bullies or all high school nerds are just nerds and can’t look pretty (is not true),” Wang said.
Wang said the size of CHS ultimately results in more relations and learning opportunities.
“The whole point of bullying and people being rude to you and peer pressure is to say ‘Okay, you can pressure me to do it. You can be mean to me. You can completely ghost me from your group and everything,’” Wang said. “It doesn’t matter because I promise you if you look around (CHS), there are 5,000 people here. You are going to find one person here that you click with well and that you love.” A
inority odel inority M (NOT) THE
WORDS | | RAGHAV SRIRAM
ris Yan, Asian American and senior, said she feels she experiences many Asian stereotypes every day, from attending debate tournaments to participating in chemistry competitions.
“I remember one time when a substitute teacher said, ‘Oh, are you the Asian group that just sits in the back because you already know everything?’ Other times people are like, ‘Oh my god, I beat Iris on a test’ like I’m some unattainable standard. Or, they say, ‘Why are you even worrying? You’re going to get a 100 on this test like you always do,’” Yan said. “And regarding college, people often say things like, ‘Of course you’re going to get in (to Harvard).’”
Today, more and more Asians are influencing society. Yo-Yo Ma, a talented cellist who has won dozens of Grammys, has changed the musical landscape. In the technology field Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, has changed the computer processing world and in politics, politician Andrew Yang, who just ran for president of the United States, has made history for Asian Americans. With this growing influence, one would expect society to have less constrictive views on the Asian American community, but this is far from the truth as Asian Americans still face harmful and detrimental stereotypes every day.
Yan said, “The biggest place where I see these stereotypes is (in) the work Asians put in being smart and doing all the work they do. It is often undervalued because everyone believes that they’re Asian, so of course they’re smart, but there are also those people where some things I don’t click for them even though they are Asian and they have to put hours into studying.”
Yan is not the only one who believes Asian American stereotypes negatively impact Asian Americans in school. According to the New York Times, in 2015, Harvard graduates, students and applicants filed a lawsuit accusing the University of discriminating against Asian Americans in their application process. While federal judges ruled in favor of Harvard, the case raised questions surrounding the issues of race, class and power in American society.
Many students picture Asian Americans as quiet, good at math and high-achieving. However, there are widespread education and socioeconomic disparities among different Asian groups. For example, according to AAPI Data, a website dedicated to gathering demographic data on ethnic groups, 95% of Japanese-Americans are high school graduates, compared to only about 60% of South Asian Hmong, Laotian and Cambodian Americans. According to Khayti Joshi, professor of education at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey, stereotypes referred to as “model minority stereotypes” impact Asian Americans the most. These stereotypes imply that all Asians are good at math and science, do well in school, are diligent and don’t cause a ruckus. This makes the implication that other ethnicities should look up to and follow the behavior of Asian Americans.
Joshi said, “(In) 1967, U.S News and World Report, a monthly news magazine, published an PHOTO | | SHRUTHI RAVICHANDRAN Freshman Sophia Yang completes her homework during SRT. Yang said the ‘model minority’ stereotype has positives and negatives. CHS students weigh accuracy of stereotypes, specifically ‘model minority’
article referring to Asians as the model minority and that has stuck ever since.”
This model minority stereotype implies that Asian Americans are students who do well in school and need no educational support due to their cultural values; thus, their educational needs and challenges are often ignored by their teachers and peers.
According to Joshi, the reason why these stereotypes exist comes from the U.S. immigration system.
She said, “After the immigration system was opened up (to non-whites) in 1965, preferences were put in place for those who could immigrate. The first preference was to those who had the ‘Alphabet Soup’ behind their names: The Masters of Business (MBs), PhDs and the Registered Nurses (RNs).”
This led many Americans to believe that people from Asia were all doctors, engineers or professors to this very day.
With these stereotypes comes added pressure. A journal published by Community Health found several common sources of stress that affect the mental health of Asian Americans; these sources included the pressure to live up to the “model minority” stereotype. The group also found Asian Americans felt discrimination based on racial or cultural stereotypes was a significant source of stress, particularly during high school.
Freshman Sophia Yang said she has mixed feelings about the ‘model minority’ stereotype, “If you’re expected to be good at academics, you’re pushed to. I feel like that’s a positive thing. Of course it can be annoying at sometimes especially when people who are not Asian get upset at you for not knowing something because you are Asian and that’s not okay. But I feel like these stereotypes can help Asian people because they can push you and help you succeed, but at the same time they can be negative and harmful.”
Joshi said, “As a college professor I see the stress (Asian) students have and it’s huge, and we see Ivy League
(Left to right) Debate coach Marie Satchivi, seniors Rohil Senapati and Iris Yan, junior Caleb Suhy and debate coach Dylan Gentilcore pose after awards at Debate State.
5 2018 Mean AP Scores
Asian students in public high schools (5%) Breaking down the Myth Here’s a breakdown of statistics about Asian students in high school, college
1 Biology Calculus Computer Science
Asian student population at Harvard (22%)
English Language and Composition
U.S. History Asian
White
Hispanic/Latino
American Indian
African-American
Asian student population at MIT (26%)
GRAPHIC | | RILEY TERBUSH SOURCE | | INSIDE HIGHER ED
SUBMITTED PHOTO | | IRIS YAN
students who committed suicide on the news,” she said. “And we can see the rates of depression among Asians have just been increasing each year.”
Additionally, these stereotypes reinforce the perception that Asian Americans can only be one thing, and in doing so masks a wide range of interests, wants, ideas and opinions within the Asian community.
Freshman Conway Zhang said he has avoided internalizing these stereotypes.
He said, “(After sixth grade) I got used to the stereotypes, so I don’t really have much reaction to them anymore. I just laugh it off. Most people think they know everything about Asians but they don’t really, it’s not like they’ve been to China or anywhere else in Asia.” Others have countered them. Yan said, “I feel like I have been able to contradict some stereotypes, especially that Asians are nerdy and antisocial, through debate (club), and so while I can get wrapped up with studying, that is not the majority of my character,” she said. “In general, while people don’t say this to me, I think people are like, ‘Oh, she’s not just a nerd.’”
Looking toward the future, many have initiated change by those who understand the harms of the model minority myth.
Joshi said, “When I work with teachers, we point out these stereotypes and we do activities so that they learn about these stereotypes,” she said. “I’ve been doing this for almost 20 years and I’ve had teachers, administrators and principals tell me, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve been doing that, and now I know that I shouldn’t be doing it.’”
Despite the educational work undertaken by those like Joshi, Yan said she has mixed feelings about the future for Asian American stereotypes,
“I think the shift is beginning to happen, but there is definitely a lot of stereotypes that need to be fixed. I think part of it is due to the model minority stereotype is largely positive,” she said. “Other stereotypes are usually largely negative, which is why that has more backlash, but I don’t think that makes the model minority stereotype any more okay, because I feel the ones who don’t live up to the stereotype don’t feel good about themselves. In general, I feel like (the future of Asians) does look bright but definitely requires a different approach than what is going on right now.” A
EMILY SANDY, CHLOE SUN GRAPHIC & SPEAKUPS BUSINESS INSIDER, CNN, STAT, READER’S DIGEST SOURCES
average number of lies that Americans tell each week STATS OF LYING 11
BODY LANGUAGE - rapid blinking, excessive eye contact - pitch changes, less smiling or subtle smile - frequent touching of face, throat and mouth - fidgeting - big changes in posture - may turn away from you VERBAL CUES - timing is off between gestures and words - repeats a question to stall - swear on the Bible or mother’s grave to be over convincing - stutters and hesitates when speaking - gives inconsistent explanations - adds too much detail in a story or stories - lack vividness and leaves out the unusual details generally included in honest descriptions - doesn’t tell a story in chronological order; jumps around according to what is most prominent in memory FOOL ME ONCE - HOW TO CATCH A LIAR
percentage of adults that can’t hold a 10-minute conversation without lying 60
percentage of adults that admit to lying on their resume 31
percentage of parents that are lied to daily percentage of a dating site that is a lie 86
90
age that children first learn how to lie and get away with their first lie 4
SPEAKUPS - WHAT LIES WERE YOU TOLD AS A KID?
PREFRONTAL CORTEX: responsible for executive control, including planning and regulating emotions and behavior; manages the deciding and self-control needed when lying
AMYGDALA responds a lot the first time you lie, but it goes down over time because of emotional adaptation
HOW A POLYGRAPH WORKS
*Sensors to detect body mo ve ment are attatc hed to the ski n
What is a polyg raph test? A pol yg raph test is a 85-95% accurate test that is conducted to tell if an individual is telling the tr uth. It tests the individual on their bodil y functions. The mac hine has made man y advances ov er the past centur y , but it was originall y inv ented in 1 902 by James Mc Ke n- zie.
These patterns may indicate the individual is lying
CAUGHT RED-HANDED - CELEBRITY SCANDALS
BILL CLINTON JAN. 1998: The sexual relationship between president Clinton and 22-yearold Monica Lewinsky came to light with his infamous statement, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman,” which lead to his impeachment. REBEL WILSON May 2015: Gave misleading information to a magazine company about her birth name, age and upbringing. She said her age was 29 when it was 35 and that her birth name was Rebel Wilson, while it is actually Melanie Bownds.
